Wilder on Saturday night at MGM Grand in Las Vegas will challenge Stiverne for his title (on Showtime). Challenge is all he’ll do, Estephan said, because Wilder has never been in waters this deep.

“Deontay has 32 fights and 32 knockouts,” Estephan said. “But not to be politically incorrect, 32 wins and 32 knockouts against who? We believe this is a choreographed career — very well done and good job. Deontay will quickly realize that fighting at this level is a whole different universe.”

Wilder’s best opponent arguably has been Malik Scott, who entered his fight with Wilder in March with a record of 36-1-1 but was not ranked. Wilder knocked him out in the first round. Ranking or no ranking, that was fairly impressive.

Wilder, 29, shot right back at Estephan during a conference call.

“The things I do make your eyes not believe,” said the colorful Wilder, a 6-foot-6 1/2-inch monster out of Tuscaloosa, Ala. “Your mind definitely plays tricks on you. On the outside of the ring you see one thing, but on the inside of the ring is a whole other different thing.

“It’s unbelievable, like, ‘How did it happen like that?’ But like you said, on January 17th we will find out and we will see that it has not been choreographed, for sure.”

It’s not like Stiverne has a list of beasts on his ring ledger, Wilder said.

“They go off on beating one opponent — beating a Chris Arreola,” Wilder said. “They go off of beating him and said they paid their dues, but I have one guy on my resume that would kill all of Bermane’s opponents on his record and he goes by the name of Malik Scott.

“He would beat them hands down.”

Stiverne beat Arreola twice, the second time stopping Arreola in the sixth round in May to win the vacant title.

Interestingly, while Estephan may be going hard at Wilder for his lack of top-notch opponents, Stiverne smartly is not.

“First of all, the level of opposition that he has fought? I don’t really care about that,” said Stiverne, 36, of Canada via Haiti. “That is not how we have based our training camp, like he fought nobody. I train like I am fighting the best out there.

“If he has not gone past four rounds, that is not my business. That is his business. All I have to say is that after January 17th, all the people that had questions about this man, will get the answers.”

Of Wilder’s 32 knockout victories, four have gone into the fourth round, but none further.

“Going past four rounds? That is nothing,” Wilder said. “Twelve rounds is an appetizer for me. I train for a four-course meal. Nothing in the back of my mind says I can’t go past four rounds.”

Wilder talks a lot. The king of talkers, Stiverne promoter Don King, is impressed. A little, anyway.

“I think Wilder is a great fighter and I also think he’s a great talker,” King said. “He is a guy who has been working his way up the ladder to become heavyweight champion and I feel Bermane is going to give him the next lesson, so Wilder may try again at a later date.”

We’re picking Wilder by TKO in the second half of the fight. But Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) is very focused.

“The most important thing is for me to defend my world title,” Stiverne said. “All the trash-talking that he does doesn’t worry me. He doesn’t have anything that I want. I am the champ. This is fighting, this is boxing, this is for real. I keep my concentration on the fight.”

Wilder will be trying to become the first American to hold a major belt in the heavyweight division since Shannon Briggs from November 2006 to June 2007.

“You are all in for a treat,” Wilder said Thursday. “I’ve never been so ready to whoop a man.”

Oh, yeah?

“After this fight, you will never ever hear about Deontay Wilder,” Stiverne said.

Santa Cruz wary of Ruiz

Leo Santa Cruz (28-0-1, 16 KOs) of Lincoln Heights will defend his super bantamweight title against Jesus Ruiz (33-5-5, 22 KOs) of Mexico underneath Stiverne-Wilder. This one could be a mismatch. But Santa Cruz promises he will not look at Ruiz as anything other than someone who can hurt him.

“Any fighter is dangerous in the ring,” Santa Cruz said. “One punch could change a fight.”

This will be Ruiz’s first shot at a major title, He vows to make the most of it.

“I promise you,” he said Tuesday, “come Saturday, you will have a new world champion.”

ETC

Haymon Boxing entered into an agreement with NBC to televise 20 cards this year, with 11 of them coming on either Saturday afternoon or Saturday night on NBC; the other nine are slated for prime time on NBC Sports Network. John Molina (27-5, 22 KOs) of Covina will take on former world champion Adrien Broner (29-1, 22 KOs) on March 7 in the semi-main event, with Keith “One Time” Thurman (24-0, 21 KOs) defending his interim welterweight title against former champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (32-2-1, 18 KOs) at MGM Grand in the inaugural telecast. … We are a week out from the third fight between welterweights Brandon Rios (32-2-1, 23 KOs) of Oxnard and Mike Alvarado (34-3, 23 KOs) of Denver. They will tangle Jan. 24 at 1stBank Center in Bloomfield, Colo. (on HBO).

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.